


A Little Foreknowledge

by thedoctordeducescamelot



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-13
Updated: 2016-04-13
Packaged: 2018-06-01 23:29:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6541177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedoctordeducescamelot/pseuds/thedoctordeducescamelot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alfred, friend of Prince Arthur, witnesses the meeting between his prince and a scruffy teenager in a neckerchief. Alfred is sure that this boy, Merlin, has more to him than meets the eye.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Little Foreknowledge

The blazing sun shone high in an unblemished and perfectly blue sky. Everything was good. Alfred watched as the servant boy ran around with the target and Arthur, the radiant son of King Uther, directed sharp knives towards the bulls-eye. They were all in hysterics, even Alfred himself chuckling uncontrollably as he was swept up in the light-hearted horseplay. Technically, yes, it was a little cruel towards poor Thomas, who hadn’t done anything wrong, but nobody really cared and Thomas would get over it. They guffawed and grinned as the target began to topple over and the put-upon servant finally dropped his wooden burden.

Then, suddenly, a foot appeared, stopping the rolling target in its tracks. It wasn’t a foot Alfred recognised, and the body attached to it wasn’t any more familiar; it belonged to a boy who couldn’t have been much more than nineteen. He had scruffy brown hair and startlingly blue eyes while his brown jacket looked a size too big and his blue shirt and red neckerchief were both faded and worn.

“Hey, come on; that’s enough,” said the boy. Alfred didn’t like his chances for standing up to the prince.

“What?” Alfred heard Arthur say in his inevitably imperious tone.

But Alfred was no longer able to pay attention. 

Before his eyes, Arthur and this boy suddenly appeared, looking a little older. The brown-haired boy was drinking from a goblet. 

The next flash showed Arthur crouching over his unconscious form, concern written all over his face. 

The next moment the boy was lying on the rocky ground, wounded again; Arthur was shouting the name ‘Merlin’ as a rock-fall separated them.

Alfred jolted back to the present and tried to look as normal as possible. Sometimes these visions startled him, but he knew what would happen if anyone found out. He took a deep breath and prayed that this one wasn’t true. As he zoned back into the conversation, he heard the boy say “I’m Merlin” and groaned internally. It was bad enough that his senses were frequently assaulted with visions, but the fact that they were always true made everything so much worse. Every time he hoped that he was just imagining things, that he wasn't really magical, but every time without fail his prophecies would prove to be correct.

“So I don’t know you?” the prince was saying, and Alfred couldn’t help but feel that he was watching something momentous, something that just might go into the history books.

Alfred didn’t know how that was possible. Merlin was just a lower class boy and Arthur was royalty. Though if Alfred’s visions were to be believed, and they unfortunately always were, he might be more important than he seemed.

“No,” replied Merlin.

“And yet you called me ‘friend’?”

“That was my mistake.”

“Yes, I think so,” Arthur said, looking quite pleased with how the exchange was going. If one thing was true about Arthur, it was that he never backed down.

And neither, it seemed, did Merlin.

“I’d never have a friend who could be such an ass.”

Alfred could feel the tension as Merlin spoke, but he was more preoccupied with the way the word ‘friend’ kept bouncing round his head. 

The same voice shouted “I’m your friend!” 

More softly it proclaimed “you could say there’s a bond between us.” 

Arthur's voice now: “You are a loyal friend, Merlin.”

Alfred shook his head to rid himself of the pesky premonitions. Arthur had put his hand to where his sword rested and was retorting “Or I one who could be so stupid.”

Alfred felt another vision pushing in upon his thoughts as he heard future Arthur saying to a grief-stricken Merlin “I’ve had my heart broken enough already today; I don’t want to lose another friend”. 

Meanwhile the present Arthur continued his taunt, asking whether Merlin knew how to walk on his knees. 

As Merlin responded in the negative, Alfred felt more visions pushing and crowding in upon him, heard something about sides of a coin and destiny, but he struggled against them and managed to stay in the present for the while. Luckily, everyone’s eyes were turned to where Arthur had Merlin’s arm in a tight grip behind his back, so no one noticed Alfred's heavy breathing and sweat-covered face.

“Who do you think you are? The king?” Merlin spat.

“No, I’m his son: Arthur,” Arthur said, clearly delighting in this encounter.

Merlin went down.

*

In bed that night, Alfred tried to keep his visions from coming, but he knew he couldn’t do it for long. He eventually succumbed and let the foreknowledge wash over him. In his experience, knowing the future never did any good, but these prophecies were strong. They exerted some power over him far greater than his usual ones. Merlin’s arrival was obviously important somehow, especially to Arthur.

Arthur and Merlin underground in the dark: “I came back because you’re the only friend I have and I couldn’t bear to lose you.” 

Merlin at night-time outside: “you’re my friend and I don’t want to lose you.” 

Merlin on his own: “I willingly give my life for Arthur’s!” 

Arthur outside in the courtyard with the lady Morgana’s maid-servant: “You really expect me just to sit here and take their word for it that Merlin’s gone? I won’t rest until I at least try.”

They went on and on, some more distinct than others. At some point Alfred fell asleep, but the visions continued in his dreams. When he finally woke up, he felt like he hadn’t slept all night.

He quickly got dressed and tried to forget everything he’d seen. This Merlin, it seemed, would be Arthur’s servant. He also had magic; that much was clear. He’d witnessed countless moments when Arthur had been saved by it. Alfred didn’t dare to hope that when Arthur became king he wouldn’t have to hide anymore, but he couldn’t help but feel that if anyone would make the future king lift the ban on sorcery, it would be this boy who would apparently become his best friend. Alfred shook his head and forced himself to think of other things. It didn’t do to dwell on what might be.

Nevertheless, he would keep an eye on this Merlin boy and, somewhere deep in his heart, he hoped that he might one day have cause to thank him.


End file.
